Sales of compact crossovers in the US are up 5% in 2021, beating the overall market up 3%. That means the largest segment in the US grows its share of the US passenger car market to 22.8%, up from 22.4% in 2020, at a volume of over 3.4 million deliveries. In the fourth quarter, compact crossover sales were down 25% in an overall market down 21%.
The Toyota RAV4 stays on top of the ranking but sees its share of the segment drop 1.3 percentage points to 11.9% as a result of a 5% decline in deliveries. The RAV4 was outsold in Q2 by the Honda CR-V but rebounded strongly in Q3 and Q4 to consolidate its class leadership. The CR-V is up 8% while the Nissan Rogue jumps back onto the podium with sales up 25% on last year, leapfrogging the Chevrolet Equinox. The Equinox is down 39% (and -82% in Q4 when it was only in 17th place) and also falls behind the Mazda CX-5, up 15% to a new annual sales record. The Subaru Outback is just in the black and closes the gap to the Forester, down 13%. Thanks to the new generation, the Hyundai Tucson reenters the top-10 with sales up 22% to a new annual sales record as well. It was in fifth place in the final quarter of the year, when most of its rivals were struggling with supply and inventory. As a result, the Ford Escape is down to 10th place with sales down 19%. Its sibling Ford Bronco Sport lands at #12, just behind the Volkswagen Tiguan (up 9% to a new annual sales record) but ahead of the Kia Sportage (+12% to a new annual sales record) and Jeep Cherokee (-34%). The latter’s sibling Jeep Compass as well as the Chevrolet Blazer both lose more than a quarter of their sales of 2020, while the GMC Terrain is down 45%
Thanks to the new generation, the Buick Envision is up by a third, also to a new annual sales record. Also thanks to the new generation, the Mitsubishi Outlander is up 24% on 2020. The Dodge Journey has been discontinued by the end of 2021 and the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is down 13%, although it was up 30% in Q4 thanks to a facelift. In the all-electric crossover subsegment, the Tesla Model Y is king, storming to an overall #6 place, but the Ford Mustang Mach-E is off to a strong start as well, ranking at an overall #27, ahead of the Volkswagen ID.4 at #32, the Jaguar I-Pace at #42 and the Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuell cell vehicles at #43. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Audi Q4 were launched only in December and therefor haven’t made much of an impact yet.
The luxury part of the segment outperforms the mainstream compact crossovers with sales up 42%. Luxury crossovers make up 20.3% of the segment in 2021, up from 15% in 2020. Most of this gain can be attributed to the thunderous arrival of the new luxury leader Tesla Model Y, although luxury crossovers without the Model Y would still outsell the rest of the class at +12%. The Tesla sells more than double the volume of the next best luxury crossover BMW X3 which is up 27% to an overall 15th place and a new annual sales record. The Audi Q5 is up 20% and jumps onto the luxury podium at #18, passing the Lexus NX (+5%), Acura RDX (+8%) and Mercedes-Benz GLC (-2%). The Volvo XC60 sets a new annual sales record at #24, moving past the Cadillac XT5. The Mercedes-Benz GLB improves on its first full year of sales to pass the Lincoln Corsair (-13%), and so does the Porsche Macan (+30% to a new annual sales record). The Range Rover Velar is up 6% but was outsold in Q4 by the newcomer Genesis GV70. The BMW X4 is up 38% to set a new annual sales record and to move back ahead of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio (+2%) and outsell the Jaguar F-Pace (-13%) for the first time.
US compact crossover sales 2021
| Compact SUV segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 Share | 2020 Share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Toyota RAV4 | 407.739 | 430.387 | -5% | 11,9% | 13,2% | 94.292 | 127.813 | -26% |
| 2 | Honda CR-V | 361.271 | 333.502 | 8% | 10,5% | 10,2% | 71.131 | 96.168 | -26% |
| 3 | Nissan Rogue | 285.602 | 227.935 | 25% | 8,3% | 7,0% | 50.955 | 60.534 | -16% |
| 4 | Mazda CX-5 | 168.448 | 146.420 | 15% | 4,9% | 4,5% | 31.105 | 42.143 | -26% |
| 5 | Chevrolet Equinox | 165.323 | 270.994 | -39% | 4,8% | 8,3% | 14.213 | 79.267 | -82% |
| 6 | Tesla Model Y | 161.529 | 10.000 | 1515% | 4,7% | 0,3% | 40.300 | 5.000 | 706% |
| 7 | Subaru Forester | 154.723 | 176.996 | -13% | 4,5% | 5,4% | 22.469 | 42.914 | -48% |
| 8 | Subaru Outback | 154.623 | 153.290 | 1% | 4,5% | 4,7% | 31.645 | 46.948 | -33% |
| 9 | Hyundai Tucson | 150.949 | 123.657 | 22% | 4,4% | 3,8% | 34.902 | 32.518 | 7% |
| 10 | Ford Escape | 145.415 | 178.496 | -19% | 4,2% | 5,5% | 33.624 | 46.743 | -28% |
| 11 | Volkswagen Tiguan L | 109.743 | 100.687 | 9% | 3,2% | 3,1% | 24.743 | 25.124 | -2% |
| 12 | Ford Bronco Sport | 108.169 | 5.120 | 2013% | 3,1% | 0,2% | 26.965 | 5.120 | 427% |
| 13 | Kia Sportage | 94.601 | 84.343 | 12% | 2,8% | 2,6% | 15.823 | 21.943 | -28% |
| 14 | Jeep Cherokee | 89.126 | 135.855 | -34% | 2,6% | 4,2% | 10.376 | 37.936 | -73% |
| 15 | BMW X3 | 75.858 | 59.941 | 27% | 2,2% | 1,8% | 21.865 | 23.541 | -7% |
| 16 | Jeep Compass | 75.642 | 107.969 | -30% | 2,2% | 3,3% | 17.613 | 30.160 | -42% |
| 17 | Chevrolet Blazer | 70.325 | 94.599 | -26% | 2,0% | 2,9% | 19.986 | 23.243 | -14% |
| 18 | Audi Q5 | 60.301 | 50.435 | 20% | 1,8% | 1,5% | 10.381 | 21.065 | -51% |
| 19 | Lexus NX | 58.514 | 55.784 | 5% | 1,7% | 1,7% | 7.970 | 19.855 | -60% |
| 20 | Acura RDX | 57.013 | 52.785 | 8% | 1,7% | 1,6% | 12.777 | 14.997 | -15% |
| 21 | Mercedes-Benz GLC | 51.805 | 52.626 | -2% | 1,5% | 1,6% | 13.674 | 18.639 | -27% |
| 22 | GMC Terrain | 47.488 | 86.020 | -45% | 1,4% | 2,6% | 4.054 | 25.476 | -84% |
| 23 | Buick Envision | 46.450 | 34.942 | 33% | 1,4% | 1,1% | 9.286 | 8.474 | 10% |
| 24 | Volvo XC60 | 41.582 | 32.078 | 30% | 1,2% | 1,0% | 9.999 | 11.616 | -14% |
| 25 | Mitsubishi Outlander | 36.133 | 29.096 | 24% | 1,1% | 0,9% | 13.209 | 4.050 | 226% |
| 26 | Cadillac XT5 | 28.380 | 35.223 | -19% | 0,8% | 1,1% | 3.528 | 10.950 | -68% |
| 27 | Ford Mustang Mach E | 27.140 | 3 | New | 0,8% | 0,0% | 8.285 | 3 | New |
| 28 | Mercedes-Benz GLB | 26.677 | 23.183 | 15% | 0,8% | 0,7% | 3.802 | 4.474 | -15% |
| 29 | Porsche Macan | 24.716 | 18.631 | 33% | 0,7% | 0,6% | 8.137 | 5.424 | 50% |
| 30 | Lincoln Corsair/MKC | 22.790 | 26.227 | -13% | 0,7% | 0,8% | 5.785 | 8.050 | -28% |
| 31 | Infiniti QX50 | 19.195 | 20.885 | -8% | 0,6% | 0,6% | 2.204 | 6.316 | -65% |
| 32 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 16.742 | New | 0,5% | 0,0% | 4.463 | 0 | New | |
| 33 | Dodge Journey | 14.035 | 40.342 | -65% | 0,4% | 1,2% | 208 | 9.592 | -98% |
| 34 | Range Rover Velar | 13.589 | 12.817 | 6% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 3.900 | 4.000 | -3% |
| 35 | Genesis GV70 | 10.735 | 0 | New | 0,3% | 0,0% | 5.461 | 0 | New |
| 36 | BMW X4 | 10.620 | 7.677 | 38% | 0,3% | 0,2% | 3.749 | 2.896 | 29% |
| 37 | Alfa Romeo Stelvio | 10.539 | 10.284 | 2% | 0,3% | 0,3% | 2.536 | 3.526 | -28% |
| 38 | Jaguar F-Pace | 9.512 | 10.892 | -13% | 0,3% | 0,3% | 2.500 | 3.000 | -17% |
| 39 | Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | 8.947 | 10.319 | -13% | 0,3% | 0,3% | 2.006 | 1.544 | 30% |
| 40 | Land Rover Discovery Sport | 7.178 | 7.759 | -7% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 2.000 | 1.900 | 5% |
| 41 | Infiniti QX55 | 4.332 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% | 1.355 | 0 | New |
| 42 | Jaguar I-Pace | 1.409 | 1.946 | -28% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 600 | 400 | 50% |
| 43 | Hyundai Nexo | 430 | 208 | 107% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 148 | 70 | 111% |
| 44 | Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 153 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 153 | 0 | New |
| 45 | Audi Q4 e-tron | 45 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 45 | 0 | New |
| 46 | Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron | 19 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 19 | 0 | New |
| 47 | Jeep Patriot | 16 | 3 | 433% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 9 | 1 | 800% |
| 48 | Volkswagen Tiguan | 4 | 22 | -82% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | 2 | -100% |
| 49 | Toyota FJ Cruiser | 1 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | 0 | New |
| 50 | Lincoln MKT | 0 | 329 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | 177 | -100% |
| Segment total | 3.435.576 | 3.260.707 | 5% | 704.250 | 933.612 | -25% |
Source: Manufacturers.